Is cricket a sport of percentages or is it a game of moments?
Ask Jasprit Bumrah this question, and he will likely give you a one-word answer. Yes.
There is no bowler in the world more aware of the importance of percentages than him, no one more confident in the process of hitting good range, remaining patient, and not looking for wicket balls.
After ten overs in the first Test between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens, Bumrah’s confidence in the percentages made the scorecard look sound. At the other end, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel reached 40 runs in five overs. At his end, Bumrah had figures of 5-2-9-0.
And so far, so far.
When Bumrah finally broke South Africa’s opening partnership, did he do so with the percentage ball or the moments ball?
Yes.
Here again was the ball that Test match fast bowlers bowled over and over again in Test match openers with a mixture of hope and belief. Left-hander Ryan Rickleton corners from around the wicket, pitched to the full side at a good length, looking to get the batsman to defend, and hoping something will happen. A little seam movement. A bit of an unusual bounce. Percentages.
In isolation, anyway, come on. He went over the outside edge, and hit the top of the stump, causing one of the largest weekday crowds that a home Test in India has drawn in recent years – the official tally, at the end of the day, was 36,513 – to vent the pent-up anxiety of the previous 45 minutes or so in a single, watered-down roar. This was a big M moment.
And what about the unplayable ball that Bumrah bowled next over, as he grounded Aiden Markram, lifting him off his feet, making him try, at the same time, to protect himself with his bat. and Do you pull it away from the ball, with the net effect of clearing the keeper?
This was still in that good length range, closer to its shorter edge this time, still delivered with enlightened hope, driven into the pitch knowing that uneven bounce was a possibility. This was still percentage ball.
But how many fast bowlers have the tools to gun down percentages like Bumrah does time and time again? How many people can hit the court like he does, with more backspin than almost anyone else, but also, thanks to his wrist snap, much more vertical speed than you might assume from someone his height?
Bumrah is a bowler with percentages because it’s always a good idea, but percentages also give him a lot more than most fast bowlers. It gets more seam movement than most, and more bounce. If there is an uneven bounce to exploit, he is more likely than most bowlers his height to have an unusually high bounce, so when he gets the bounce to stay low, it is very difficult for the batsman to adjust it.
All this meant that Bumrah was an irresistible force on this extraordinary first-day pitch at Eden Gardens, where fast bowlers from both sides took 8 for 61 in 32 overs at one end, and 0 for 40 in eight overs at the other. There was uneven bounce and little action from one end, and so little of either from the other that the fast bowlers only bowled from there when they had to. Bumrah, of course, threw in all his positive ending. He earned this right.
3:22
How is a Bumrah game still unplayable on a dry surface?
The crew discusses what made him so deadly in the first session of play
However, this was still the Gardens of Eden, so there was, in his mind, a bigger downside than usual to straying away from percentages.
“Patience is the first lesson in Test cricket,” Bumrah said at the end of the day’s play. “You need patience if you want to succeed in Test cricket. This is a ground where the pitch is very fast, and the wicket is difficult. If you get too desperate or try to bowl magic balls, the runs go very quickly.
“You have to control that temptation, build pressure, and know the tough options to score runs. Every ball is not going to (stick or bounce unusually). Some balls will, and if you bowl in good areas consistently, there is a chance of getting a wicket.”
One boundary conceded by Bumrah illustrates this point perfectly. It came as a result of a defensive push from Tristan Stubbs who simply refused to slow down after entering the gap between the player and Mohamed Siraj midway through the game.
It said something about Bumrah’s mentality and control, that this was the only unlimited limit he had conceded all day.
And every now and then, a wicketball comes with something extra. A bit of a plea for Rikelton. Unplayable bounce to Markram. Low bounce and reverse swing after the bounce to Tony De Zorzi. Low bounce by Simon Harmer.
The uneven bounce, from the positive end, was evident from the first over of the day, when a single off Bumrah hit shin-height and ran away for a bye four, two climbing awkwardly – one hitting the link of Markram’s bat and the other bundled high by Rishabh Pant.
Even with this early knowledge, Bumrah had to practice the correct lengths to hit the ball, to ensure that the ball ended up in the testing areas consistently.
“Basically, it’s a harder ball game,” he said. “So when the ball is nice and hard, maybe the deflection is a little bit faster. Like, when the ball gets softer, the deflection goes down. And then comes your accuracy of play.”
“So when I bowled the first time, it all happened. The ball swung, it stayed low, it went high. It’s a bit difficult to understand what the right length is. So you keep bowling and you keep discovering things, (i.e.) it shapes (up) this way (…) Like when the ball got softer, it actually settled down. It wasn’t happening as much and the deflection wasn’t consistent.”
“So we realized, yeah, when the ball is nice and hard, the seam is crisp, it’s going to do a little bit more, and then, as the ball gets softer, it’s going to get a little bit easier (for hitters).”
It has never been easier for Bumrah. Not when he was heading up the percentages like that.
And then, the inevitable moment came to complete the five-rounder and end South Africa’s innings. If Bumrah’s career has been characterized by strict proportions, it has also been one of astonishing highlights. If this one-two punch of Keshav Maharaj isn’t going to work, it’s only because it contains a lot of far more brilliant moments, which came against much better batsmen.
It was still fascinating in its isolation, especially for how brutal and imprecise it was. Mark the high-headed bouncer to greet No. 11 – well done for getting out of the way – and then the burning yorker, his angle so wicked and his landing point so bizarre that Maharaj was treading on the ball.
No bowler in history with more than 200 Test wickets, as he is now widely known, has a better average than Bumrah’s (currently 19.52). His five goals on Friday were his 16th in Tests. Only Kapil Dev among India’s fast bowlers has taken more.
Bumrah surpassed Mohammed Shami’s Test wicket tally of 229 on Friday. He is now on 231st, five behind Javagal Srinath, who is currently fourth on India’s Test fast bowling wicket-taker list.
Why this sudden glut in numbers? Well, there is one argument that, from time to time, is countered against Bumrah’s claim to all-time greatness: longevity. Look at those numbers again; If you haven’t already stopped this argument, you might want to now.
